What a Flatbed Scanner
Can Do for Your WorkflowWhat to Know Before You Buy

By DANIEL OEY, Product Manager,
Epson America, Inc.

Whether you need to scan your images for clients, upload photos
to the Internet for sale or promotion, or just archive your photo
assignments, there's a scanner right for you. Flatbed scanners
offer professional photographers—as well as graphic arts and
prepress professional—big-time performance these days, with
amazing quality, color accuracy, and blazing-fast speeds. They're
also a vital first step into the digital realm.

ENTERING THE DIGITAL ON RAMP
An important aspect of a scanner is image quality, the
faithfulness with which it captures the colors and details of the
original. If you're looking to scan only negatives or 35mm slides
to work on digitally and print, then you're probably in the market
for a dedicated film scanner to capture the maximum amount of
information stored on the original film.
So should a quality-conscious studio photographer cross flatbeds
off the shopping list? You want to print the best picture, so you
want the right input device. Should you then put money down on an
expensive film scanner to scan in your originals? Or wait for
prices to plummet on high-end digital backs for your medium- or
large-format camera?
The good news is that flatbed-scanned output from film is getting
better all the time. Results from some flatbed scanners even rival
the output from some entry-level slide scanners. If you want
versatility and a cost-efficient way to get into digital
photography, you may want to look at flatbed scanners. They're
ideal for tasks beyond just scanning negatives or slides to produce
accurate prints.
There's a lot to be learned before you race full throttle down the
digital thoroughfare. When that day arrives, you'll be preoccupied
with buying and operating the right digital camera, getting more up
to speed on Photoshop, and learning how to print images on
different media. Until then, a flatbed scanner is a versatile,
affordable first step onto the digital "on ramp."

EFFICIENCY AND VOLUME
Even if you're into digital, the objective in scanning is sometimes
pure efficiency and volume. You may not be trying to place a
high-res photo on the cover of Bride's magazine or
laboring to create a stunning portrait print for a top customer.
You just need to digitize photos as fast as possible. When paired
with a good inkjet photo printer, flatbed scanners are great at
creating proofs or contact sheets in-house. With a flatbed scanner,
you now have the workflow to input multiple images to later print
as proofs, burn onto CDs, input to video, drop into a website, or
send via email.
Flatbed scanners can be more versatile than slide scanners. If you
need to print out a duplicate proof, you can scan reflective prints
on a flatbed. Or, if you need to input a batch of originals, you
can scan many at once. Most slide scanners only scan one or a few
at a time.
If you shoot medium- or large-format in the studio and need to scan
high-resolution images, you need a specialized slide scanner that
costs even more than the best 35mm slide scanner. A flatbed can be
an affordable alternative for getting images into the computer.
Since you already have more data capture in large format, because
the negative or slide is larger than a 35mm frame, you don't
require as much resolution from a scanner.

This image, created on Epson's Expression 1680 pro scanner,
shows a high level of detail in the shadows and highlight areas.
The color is true-to-life and the image is sharp and shows a great
degree of detail.In this scan, created on a competitor's film
scanner, the software and/or hardware isn't able to adjust the
image for a large highlight-to-shadow range, so when it enhances
the shadow areas, it loses highlight area data. Also, overall tonal
range is slightly magenta.

MEASURING & DEFINING IMAGE QUALITY
When you set out to buy a flatbed scanner, it's helpful to
recognize several terms referring to image quality. A key aspect of
image quality is resolution, measured in dots per inch
(dpi). To meet a range of user needs, Epson offers scanners with
resolutions from 600 to 2400 dots per inch.
Optical density or dynamic range measures the
brightness range that a scanner captures. The higher the dynamic
range, the greater range of tone. Epson provides scanners with
optical density ranging from 3.0 to 3.6 Dmax, capturing greater
detail in highlight and shadow areas, important when scanning
positive or negative film.
Color bit depth is the maximum color level a scanner can
enumerate. More bits will give you better image reproduction. Epson
offers scanners with 42- to 48-bit color processing. The higher bit
color processing pays off more with slides, negs, and
transparencies than with reflective art because of their wider
dynamic range of color and light-to-dark values.

COMPUTER CONNECTIVITY
Most scanners connect to computers via USB, SCSI, or
IEEE 1394 (FireWire). USB (Universal Serial Bus), which
replaces older methods linking scanners and computers via the
parallel port, is a faster, more convenient connection for most
people. Your computer needs the USB port for this type of
scanner.
Some still prefer attaching a scanner to a computer via the SCSI
(Small Computer System Interface) port for higher performance and
speed. And for even faster performance, Epson offers high-speed
FireWire (IEEE 1394) scanners. FireWire combines Plug & Play
and Hot Swapping capabilities with high-speed data throughput.
Although the type of connection helps determine how quickly the
device scans an image, a scanner's speed is also influenced by its
on-board processing capability.